Delhi High Court directs Super Cassettes to deposit ₹50 lakh in dispute over Dhurandhar 2 ‘Oye Oye’ song

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to pass an interim injunction in favour of Trimurti Films in its copyright dispute with the makers of Dhurandhar 2 over the song Rang De Lal (Oye Oye) [Trimurti Films Vs B62 Films].

However, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed Super Cassettes to deposit ₹50 lakh before the Court within four weeks.

The Court said that it was unable to pass any interim orders as prayed for by the plaintiff. At the same time, it found it appropriate to secure the Trimurti’s claim by ordering the monetary deposit.

The Court directed that the amount be deposited in the name of the Registrar General of the Court and kept in auto-renewal. It added that the amount would enure to the benefit of the successful party at the end of the trial.

A detailed copy of the order is awaited.

The dispute arose from allegations by Trimurti Films that Rang De Lal (Oye Oye) in Dhurandhar 2 used the musical composition of Tirchi Topiwala from the 1989 Hindi film Tridev without authorisation.

Tirchi Topiwala, featuring Sunny Deol, was composed by Anand–Milind with lyrics by Anand Bakshi.

Trimurti Films claimed rights over the song and alleged that the makers of Dhurandhar 2 had used the track, or a substantially similar version of it, without obtaining the necessary licence.

It argued that such use amounted to copyright infringement. Its grievance also extended to the commercial exploitation of the song through the theatrical release of the film, streaming on digital platforms and promotional material connected with Dhurandhar 2.

Super Cassettes, which holds the audio rights in the songs of Dhurandhar 2, opposed interim relief. It argued that Trimurti had approached the Court with unclean hands and suppressed prior instances where similar songs from Tridev were used in other films.

B62 Films, the producer of Dhurandhar 2, told the Court that the film had already been released in theatres and was unlikely to be made available on OTT platforms till mid-May.

The Court had earlier referred the parties to mediation. However, the mediation failed.

After hearing the parties, the Court declined to grant the interim relief sought by Trimurti Films but directed a ₹50 lakh deposit to protect the interests of the party that ultimately succeeds at trial.

Trimurti was represented by Senior Advocate Swathi Sukumar with advocates Arunadhri Iyer, Ritvik Raghuvanshi, Rishika Aggarwal and Anshu Tulsyan.

Super Cassettes was represented by Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal and advocates Harsh Kaushik, Aditya Gupta, Asavari Jain, Geetanjali Visvanathan and Shivansh Tiwari from Ira Law.

B62 Films was represented by Senior Advocate Ravi Prakash Kumar with advocates Parag Khandhar with Advocates Chandrima Mitra, Anaheeta Verma, Krishan Kumar and Diva Chanchani from DSK Legal.

Advocates Vishesh Issar, Rahul Dhawan, Apoorv Bansal and Vaishali Singh from Lex Chambers appeared for Jio Studios, the producer.